Dispensing apparatus



May 4 1926. 1,582,963

A. BOOMERSHINE D ISPENSING APPARATUS Filed July 25. l1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented May 4, 1926.

.ADAM BOOMERSHINE, QF DAYTON, OHIO.

DIsPENsING Application Afiled July 26,

To all whom t may concern:

Be it knownV that I, ADAM BooMERsHINn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ghio, have invented certain new and usefulL Improvements in Dispensing ppa "attrs, of Which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to .improvements in dispensing apparatus, having' a plurality of compartments for the commodity to be dispensed, the apparatus vshown inthe drawing having beenespecially designed for dispensing ice creamlcakes, although the construction ,is equally applicable for the purpose of dispensing other commodities.

One of the objects of the invention is yto provide a simple and effective arrangement of ejectors whereby the articles to lbe dispensed Will be complete-ly exhausted from one compartment and then fed from .the next succeeding compartment, or lthe next compartment containing articles yof commodity; the arrangement being such that `an,s intervening empty compartment may exist Without interfering With the Iproper ejection, one at a time, of all of the articles in the machine.

A furtherobject of the invention is to provide an ice chamberandcommodity holders which may be? readily removed for cleaning or repairs; a further object in this connection being to so dispose the parts that the ejectors and tripping devices for same will be readily vaccessible for rinspection and repairs When the ice 4chamber ,and holders are removed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dispensing apparatus which .vill be simple in constructi n, effective in operation and economical in manufacture.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation with the near side of the outer casing removed.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 3 is a perspective vieu7 of one of tle ejectors and its operating arm.

' F ig. 4 is a perspective view of one ofthe trip fingers forthe ejector arms.

Fig. 5 isa section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a section of the line V6-.6 lof Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a plan Iview of tivo o1 the trip arms' in assembled relation.

APPARATUS.

12.22. .seran No. 577,623.

Fig. Fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is a side view of oneof the commodity holders. i y

Fig. 10 is a lsection on the line 10-10 of Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings, a casing is provided consisting of an outer Wall 1 and an inne Wall 42.of sheet metalnivith insulating material Y3, .such as ground cork, packed between.v thewvalls This casing forms the bottom, side andend Walls of a compartment lWhich receives an ice chamber and ,thel commodity compartments or holders and is supported from a. base 4 by'legs 5. The top of this casing is closed by cover 1a formed in a` .manner similar tothe casing in that it has double: sheet metal Walls `filled :with cork or similar material. I y

Anopen-top icechamber 6, preferably of sheet metal is fitted 'to ,the Walls 2 and has handles 7 by which it may be. readily removed. T his ,icev ,chamber is shaped to surround anopen-top commodity chamber 8 consisting of side and end Walls of sheet metal suitably v secured to the bottom Wall 2. The commodity packages 9 are placed in suitable holders 10, the lower end of each ofWhich hasfront and rear openings 11 to permit theejectio-n ofthe commodity packages and 'also preferably vertical side slots 12, to facilitate the placing' Yof theV packages therein, and these holders 'filled with rthe packagesareplaced between vertical, narrow guides Sa projecting' fromthe WallsB of the commodity chamber.v i

VThe' main outer casing has extending from front to lrear a chamber, the rear part .13 o 'f which formsa; housing' yfor certain of the operating parts, the forward portion thereof a discharge opening ,14 for the commodity receptacles, and the intermediate portion thereof' a receiver for v.the lower-most ends of the `commodity holders and a place to house the guideways 'for the ejectors. These guideways are indi-cated at ,16 and are preferably constructed of sheet metal. Slidably mounted in the guideways are ejectors 17 `(see 3 for detail) consisting of a top portion 17a, two sides 17h and afor- Ward end 17 of` lesser depth than the sides. Each ,ejector has an operating'arm 18, the forward end of Which'is pivotally mounted on a` pin 19 carried by the side wvallsofthe corresponding ejector landthe rear end of 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of `which' is bent to ma hook-shaped form, as

llO

L f gli indicated at 18. All of the operating arms, excepting the one ot the first commodity compartment, are normally held in inoper tive position by a device associated with a preceding compartment, so that when the packages in any one compartment are eX- hausted the operating arm ot the next succeeding` compartment is automatically permitted to engage itselt with the operating mechanism to be later described. Each ot the guide-ways except the irst in the series has a depressed channel 2O and pivotallymounted in the side walls of each channel is a trip-arm 2l, the arm having lateral trunnions 22 near its rear end for this purpose. The rear end ot each arm has a notch 23, and also a laterally extending inger 2a having an upwardly extending projection 25. The extreme outer end of the linger 2A lies beneath that portion ot the succeeding trip arm indicated at 23 so as to sustain that arm and prevent it trom dropping in the event that its companion compartment should be empty, which insures against the commodity being fed from more than one compartment at a time. rlhe weight ot the packages is upon the torward end ot the trip arm so that its rear end is tilted to a position to cause its projection to engage the underside oit the next succeeding operation arm 18, the notch 23 of that arm being tor the purpose oi' accommodating the projection. As the last package of any one compartment, except of course the last in the series, is t'ed from the compartment, the trip-arm of that compartment is permitted to swing and thus permit the rear end of the operating arm of the next succeeding compartment to drop and cause its hook-shaped end to engage a rod 26 carried at the upper end ot arms 2i', the lower ends of which are fined to a rock sha'tt 28. One end ot the shatt 28 has a crank-arm 29, the upper end of which has a pin 30 projecting into a slotted opening 3l of a link 32, the other end ot the link being pivoted to one arm of a bell crank lever 33. The other end of the bell crank lever' is pivotally connected by a link Y 3ft with a lever 35, having its rear end pivoted at 36 and normally held in retracted or inoperative position by a spring 36. This lever is operated by a plunger 37 mounted to slide in a vertical direction in a channel 38 in the wall of the outer casing, and pivotally connected to the lever by a link 39; the plunger having a linger piece 3T to be readily grasped by the operator.

rlhe operating devices are normally locked and designed to be unlocked by a coin inserted in the inclined slotted opening 40. A locking lever has one arm el thereof normally standing in the path of the coin, a tlat spring al normally holding the arm in this position. The other arm Ll2 ot the lever has a lateral projection 43 normally standing in the path of movement of a finger la projecting downwardly from the Jforward end ot the lever 35. Vhen a coin is deposited, it comes to rest against the arm 41 ot the locking lever just beneath the plunger 37. When the plunger is depressed, it comes in contact with the coin and swings the locking lever, causing the project-ion t3 thereof to oe moved out of the path oi the linger rlhe slotted opening 31 in the link 32 is to permit ot a preliminary movement of the parts as the plunger is depressed and until the lever 35 is unlocked. The coin then slides down the channel 38 into the coin box 45. rThe plunger is ot sutiicinet length so that when depressed its upper end will eX- tend across the coin slot and thereby prevent the insertion ot a coin until the plunger returns to normal position.

Arranged in the discharge opening in front ot each compartment is a pair ot hinged doors or valves 46 which swing outwardly to permit the discharge ot' the articles and then swing inwardly to keep the discharge opening closed against outside air.

Upoir each operation of the apparatus a package is dispensed, first from the first occupied compartment in the series until exhausted and then from a succeeding occupied compartment. 'When the packages in the iirst occupied compartment are exhausted the trip arm of that compartment moves about its pivotal point, due to the weight thereon of they operating arm ot' the next succeeding compartment, and permits that operating arm to drop and becomes engaged with the rod 26. ln the event that an intermediate compartment is empty, its trip will be sustained by the trip arm ot the preceding filled or partly illed compartment and thus sustain the operating arm or the next succeeding filled compartment, dropping simultaneously with the preceding trip arm to thereby release the next succeeding operating arm. By this arrangement intermediate compartments may be mpty, but the apparatus will continue to dispense packages so long as any packages remain in the machine, so that careless tilling of the compartments will not interfere with the proper dispensing of the commodity.

lt will be noted that the ice compartment together with the commodity holders may be readily removed for inspection and repairs, such removal also affording access to the ejectors and associated parts.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. ln a dispensing apparatus, a plurality ot' commodity compartments, an ejector for each compartment, commodity controlled means for holding all of the ejectors eX- llt) cepting for the compartment being dispensed out of operation and for throwing an ejector of a succeeding occupied compartment immediately into operation When the commodity in a preceding occupied compartment is exhausted.

2. In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality ot commodity compartments, an ejector tor each compartment, commodity controlled means for holding the ejector of a succeeding compartment out of operation until the commodity of the preceding compartment is exhausted, and additional interlocking means for holding` succeeding ejectors out of operation until the commodity ot the iirst occupied compartment is exhausted so arranged as to release the ejector of the next succeeding occupied compartment immdiately upon the dispensing of the last article in the preceding occupied compartment.

8. In a dispensing apparatus, a series of commodity compartments from which packages of commodity are adapted to be dispensed lin successive order, a normally inoperative ejector for each compartment after the first, commodity controlled means for holding said ejectors out of operation until the commodity of a preceding compartment is exhausted, and means for permitting all ejectors to be thrown into operation between the last compartment diepensed from and the next occupied compartment immediately upon the ejection of the last commodity article from said firstmentioned compartment.

t. In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality ot' compartments for commodity packages, an ejector for each compartment, means controlled by the packages in one occupied compartment for preventing the operation oit the ejectors in succeeding compartments Whether empty or occupied, said means permitting the operation of the ejector of the next succeeding occupied compartment When the packages in the tiret-mentioned compartment are exhausted regardless of intervening unoccupied compartments.

In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality of commodity compartments, a separate ejector for each compartment, a common operating device for said ej ectors, means for connecting each of said eject-ors With said operating device, a trip arm controlled by the commodity packages in a compartment for holding the ejector in a succeeding compartment disconnected from said operating device, and interlocking connections to prevent the operation of the trip arm of any unoccupied compartment unt-,il the preceding occupied compartment is emptied.

6. In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality of commodity compartments, an ejector for each compartment, an actuating device for each ejector, an operating device for said actuating devices, commodity controlled trips each arranged to release an actuating device of a succeeding compartment when the commodities of the preceding compartment are exhausted, and interlocking connections to prevent the release ot the actuating devices of any unoccupied compartment, independent of its particular location, until. the commodities of the preceding occupied compartments are emptied.

7. In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality ol' commodity compartments', an ejector for each compartment, a movable operating arm carried by each ejector, an operating device for said ejectors, and means controlled by he commodity articles for holding said arms out of engagement with said operating device and permitting the arm of a succeeding occupied compartment to become engaged with said device When the articles of any one compartment are exhausted.

8. In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality of commodity compartments, an ejector for each compartment, a movable operating arm carried by each ejector, a movable trip arm associated With the majority of said compartments, and a main operating device, each trip arm being controlled by the commodity lin its compartment to hold the next succeeding operating arm out oil operative position and to permit said operating arm to engage With said operating device when the commodity articles are exhausted.

9. In a dispensing apparatus, a plurality of commodity compartments, a main operating device comprising an oscillatory rod extending throughout the breadth of said compartments, an ejector for each compartment, an operating` arm pivoted to each ejector having a hook-shaped end to engage With said rod, and a commodity controlled trip arm associated with the majority ot compartments arranged to hold the operating arm of the next succeeding compartment in inoperative position when its compartment is ,occupied and permit said operating arm to engage said rod when its compartment is exhausted.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of July, 1922.

ADAM BOOMERSHINE. 

